Gendered Representation of
Anger in Media
Ongoing Research Project
“While we experience anger
internally, it is mediated culturally and externally by other people’s expectations and social prohibitions. Roles
and
responsibilities, power and privilege are the framers of our anger.
Relationships, culture, social status, exposure to discrimination, poverty, and access to power all factor into how we think about, experience, and utilize anger. Different countries, regions—even neighboring communities in the same state—have been shown to have anger proles, exhibiting different
patterns of behavior and social dynamics. So, for example, in some cultures anger is a way to vent frustration, but in others it is more for exerting authority. In the United States, anger in white men is often portrayed as justiable and patriotic, but in black men, as criminality; and in black women, as threat. In the Western world, which this book focuses on, anger in women has been widely associated with “madness.”
Chemaly, Soraya. Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger. Atria Books, 2018.
︎
responsibilities, power and privilege are the framers of our anger.
Relationships, culture, social status, exposure to discrimination, poverty, and access to power all factor into how we think about, experience, and utilize anger. Different countries, regions—even neighboring communities in the same state—have been shown to have anger proles, exhibiting different
patterns of behavior and social dynamics. So, for example, in some cultures anger is a way to vent frustration, but in others it is more for exerting authority. In the United States, anger in white men is often portrayed as justiable and patriotic, but in black men, as criminality; and in black women, as threat. In the Western world, which this book focuses on, anger in women has been widely associated with “madness.”
Chemaly, Soraya. Rage Becomes Her: The Power of Women's Anger. Atria Books, 2018.
︎
Ongoing Research Project
I created a visual annotation to a set
of four film sequences depicting emotionally charged dialogues between
heterosexual pairs in a domestic situation. This set is representative for
American movies from the genre drama (romantic and period) directed by male
directors, depicting normative, heterosexual families. We were interested in
visualizing both formal (movement) and content-based elements (emotion) in
order to contextualize the set in the overarching question of gendered
representation on media.
American Hustle, 2013, USA
Dir: David O. Russel
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale
Fences, 2016, USA
Dir: Denzel Washington
Cast: Viola Davis, Denzel Washington
Revolutionary Road, 2008, USA
Dir: Sam Mendez
Cast: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio
Blue Valentine, 2010, USA
Dir: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling
American Hustle, 2013, USA
Dir: David O. Russel
Cast: Jennifer Lawrence, Christian Bale
Fences, 2016, USA
Dir: Denzel Washington
Cast: Viola Davis, Denzel Washington
Revolutionary Road, 2008, USA
Dir: Sam Mendez
Cast: Kate Winslet, Leonardo DiCaprio
Blue Valentine, 2010, USA
Dir: Derek Cianfrance
Cast: Michelle Williams, Ryan Gosling